Defeated Maldives president Abdulla Yameen challenges election result; alleges corruption, malpractice

Colombo: The outgoing president of the Maldives filed a complaint with police on Wednesday challenging the results of last month’s presidential election in which he was defeated by the opposition candidate.

President Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s Progressive Party of the Maldives said in a statement that lawyers filed the complaint over “serious allegations of vote rigging, fraud, malpractice and corruption.”

The statement said the party is seeking a remedy from the High Court and Supreme Court, but did not specify what kind of relief it wants. The opposition alliance has said Yameen is attempting to cling to power.

Yameen, who has rolled back many of Maldives’ democratic reforms, was decisively defeated by opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the 23 September election and quickly conceded defeat. The constitution allows two weeks to submit a challenge from the day that official election results are announced.

The election was generally seen as fair, although the opposition alleged ahead of time that Yameen’s government was using state resources to rig the vote in his favor.

Yameen’s five-year term ends on 17 November.

Four of the country’s Elections Commission five members have fled the country because of threats from supporters of Yameen’s party who accused them of rigging the election in favor of Solih, Elections Commissioner Ahmed Shareef said.

He said groups had gathered in front of the members’ homes and threatened them, saying they had accepted bribes from the opposition.

Yameen’s party said it is disappointed that only one commission member remains in the country while “there is a national outcry” over the commission’s conduct during the election.